The Association between Traumatic Life Events, Strengths, and Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents with Mental Health Issues

Children with mental health problems have a significantly worse quality of life (QoL) compared to typically developing children or those with chronic medical conditions (Sawyer et al., 2002). Unfortunately, the literature examining specific factors associated with QoL in this vulnerable population is quite scarce. Studies have begun to investigate the relationships between traumatic events, strengths, and QoL (Cohrdes & Mauz, 2020; Lamoureux-Lamarche & Vasiliadis, 2017; Weber et al., 2016). However, research has yet to examine the impact of both interpersonal (e.g., child maltreatment) and non-interpersonal (e.g., natural disasters) types of trauma on QoL in children and youth with mental health issues. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, no study has explored the potential role strengths may play in buffering against the negative impact trauma often has on QoL, within this particular population. Finally, the majority of research has been conducted on overall QoL, with very little attention being paid to QoL at the subdomain level. Therefore, this dissertation aimed to close some of these gaps in the current literature. The first study examined how traumatic life events are associated with QoL. Results showed a strong association between interpersonal trauma and lower QoL, as well as a dose-response relationship between number of interpersonal traumatic events and QoL; specifically, individuals who experienced a greater number of traumatic events reported lower QoL. Furthermore, there was a weak association between experiencing non-interpersonal trauma and QoL. Supplemental analyses revealed additional significant associations between interpersonal trauma and certain subdomains of QoL. The second study examined how strengths are associated with QoL, and explored whether strengths influence the relationship between trauma and QoL. Results showed that among the various internal and relational strengths included in the study, having a consistent positive outlook was the strongest predictor of overall QoL. Supplemental analyses revealed additional significant associations between particular strengths and subdomains of QoL. Furthermore, strengths reduced the impact of interpersonal traumatic events on QoL, at the overall and domain-specific level. Potential explanations for these associations are discussed, and clinical implications as well as future directions are suggested.